Incorruptible
Minister seemed to be getting worse by the day. As she walked down the street to her apartment, Bailey Keller couldn’t help be feel her heart sink. In the streets sat the homeless, many covered in burns and missing limbs thanks to their now disregarded service in the war with the Covenant. They were covered in grime, and their eyes which once showed fiery defiance against overwhelming odds were now faded, and the resolve in them broken. She’d seen them be mugged for all that they had by youths as much victims as they were victimizers. Their parents had been taken from them in all likelihood by the same scourge that had crippled their victims, and they’d spent their lives starving in refugee camps when the natives of Minister became staunchly anti-refugee. On more than one occasion she’d intervened, non-lethally of course, years of athletics and her brother’s guidance had left her quite capable of defending herself and others, but for every mugging she stopped there were two more she didn’t, only the police could make any kind of impact. Of course that wouldn’t happen. The last straight cop she’d met on Minister had her head taken off by a sniper months ago, another, less virtuous, member of the force if she had to guess. For the most part the cops just mugged the kids who mugged the veterans in some food chain of corruption. Bailey liked to think she was making a positive difference even if no one else was. The school she worked at was a mess, both in terms of the actual structure and the rest of the staff. The administration was a joke, any kind of extra circulars were non-existent outside of those she created, and she wasn’t sure if half of the other teachers weren’t working for one of the local syndicates to make ends meet. But she’d stayed clean, she stayed late to help her kids, made sure they all ate, managed a small sports club after school, and as of the current time her class had a B- average. She was proud of herself, she was doing all she could with or without the UNSC’s help. Granted, she wasn’t alone, some of the more able bodied veterans had taken to protecting the children and her during club meetings and tutoring, along with the parents of some of the children who worked for one of the more morally upright syndicates, who used the act as good PR. But despite her pride in all she’d done, it was beginning to seem pointless. Those she thought to be her friends day by day give in to the corruption of the world just to make things a little easier on themselves, leaving her feeling ever more alone. With a sigh, she looked over her shoulder back out at the streets whose run-down buildings and cracked cement were in stark contrast to the newer buildings she now stood outside of. Her apartment was only a few blocks away, yet it seemed to be on an entirely different world as the city had somehow stopped the spread of poverty and misery to its center. It was as if the heart of the city refused to be changed, to be broken down and laid to ruin. It was incorruptible, and from this point on, so was she.